A Rocky Love Story
by Oddsbodikins
Summary: The path of love is not always made of roses… due to the twists of fate, it curves and bends, is tied into knots, and is strewn with hidden thorns. Ü *Chapter 1's up*
1. Prologue. A Crime (of the Heart?)

**A Rocky Love Story**, by Oddsbodikins

_Obligatory Disclaimer:___

The characters from Slam Dunk are the creations and property of Inoue Takehiko and related enterprises. I do not own them, and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my (and my readers') own enjoyment in spending time with them.

_Warning_: A bit lime-ish. Nothing beyond conservative romance novels though. Ü

**Prologue******

_A Crime (of the Heart?)_

It was long past dismissal, and Shohoku High School was deserted. The setting sun weakly illuminated the grounds that hours before had been teeming with students, and its last sparkling rays slanted across glass windows to enter the empty rooms and halls within.

The only sound to be heard was the dull whirring of a printer doing its job. This low hum led to one of the rooms on the second floor, where a young girl was carefully packing her things into her backpack as she obviously waited for the said printer to finish. She was slim, with short hair cropped in a bob, creamy skin, and clear, intelligent eyes. When the sound stopped, she went over to the computer, turned it off, gathered the print-outs, and after a last minute check to see that everything was in order, left the room while closing the door quietly behind her.

Adjusting the straps of her backpack on her shoulders, she sighed. "Argh, this just keeps getting heavier everyday," she thought. "What with all the extra homework, plus the special assignment the EIC* gave me… this is going to be one hell of a week." Musing to herself, she slowly descended the stairs from the second-floor office of the school paper and made her way down the first floor corridor. "Hmm, they'll have closed the front doors by now. I'd have to go out the back doors by the gym," she thought, proceeding that way.

Her footsteps echoed along the hallway, seeming to bounce off the walls. It was peacefully quiet, a rare experience when one is used to going by this place during school hours when it is packed with chattering students. Lost in thought, she turned the corner, glimpsing the open doors just straight ahead.

A vague noise from somewhere inside a room further on to her right made her slow her steps. "That's odd," she thought. "This's the basketball team's locker room. I thought practice was long over?" Just as she approached the door, it opened, and a tall figure came out.

He caught her eyes, and he grinned. She stood rooted to her spot, as all rational thought flew out her head while all motion drained out her limbs. Straightening from the doorway, he shook his long hair away from his face, and sauntered to her slowly. He was dressed in dark jeans and a black leather jacket, nicely filled out by his well-built physique. As he unhurriedly came closer she could barely make out a small scar on his chin. His keen blue eyes seemed to have caught hers in a trap. She took a step to her left, her backpack falling from her shoulders as she did, but the wall that loomed behind her as she turned to face him prevented further distance between herself and this disturbing stranger.

"Hey," he spoke. His voice was soft and deep, like velvet over steel. "I thought I was alone… in here. Wasn't counting on any company…" He was so near now, that he leaned one arm on the wall behind the young girl. "Sonear… sotall… sobig…" She tried to clear her overwhelmed brain, as she unconsciously noted that her head came up only to his broad – _very_ broad – shoulders.

Recovering some of her verve, she kept her eyes on his, returning the disconcerting gaze unflinchingly, thinking, "I won't give in. I won't… I'm strong…" As he leaned over her she gave a sudden kick to his shins, and he cried out, but as she turned to make a run for it he caught her arm in his, and he jerked her to him. "Wrong move," was all he said, and she smelled the alcohol in his breath. She struggled, but she couldn't shake him off as his head lowered to hers, his hair falling like a silken curtain that enfolded them in a world all their own. Closing her eyes, she tried to turn her mouth away as his lips came within a hair's breadth of it, but his other hand came up to hold her head firmly in place. And he kissed her.

His eyelids had fluttered down instinctively as his mouth crushed down on hers, but her eyes flew open as she continued to fight him uselessly. He felt her stiff lips beneath his, and her body rigid as stone as she tried, ineffectually, to hold herself away from him. Drawing away for a moment, he brushed his lips lightly over her tightly closed ones, appealing, coaxing. As his lips gentled she felt hers soften as well, and she felt herself give in to his kiss. Of their own volition her fingers curved around his neck, sliding into the soft, thick hair at his nape. She felt his swift, indrawn breath at this unexpected act, and he began kissing her earnestly now, both arms drifting down to clasp her around the waist and pull her closer to him. Entwined they leaned into the wall, both seeming to lose the ability to stand unaided.

After a long while, he drew away, taking a deep breath, his eyes opening and caressing her face. "Wow," he whispered. He leaned his forehead on hers, waiting for his breathing to even out, as she lay still in his arms. She could hear his heart beating erratically, though oddly enough, it seemed to be in time with her own. It seemed to her that she floated, suffused in a warm cloud of contentment.

Suddenly it seemed as if a dead weight descended on her, and opening her own eyes she found that he had… fallen asleep? No, fainted, she corrected herself. "Must be the drink…" She staggered under this load, her small frame insufficient to support all of his.

Deciding quickly, she grasped him around the waist, feeling his whole body going limp against hers. Tottering under his full weight, she lurched carefully towards the locker room door. Barely able to hold him up, she freed one hand and turned the knob, sighing in relief as it turned in her palm. She limped inside with difficulty, maneuvering his heavy form through the door, and together they wobbled to the benches that stood between the lines of lockers. With a sigh and a thud, she laid him down on the nearest one. He was so tall that his legs extended across to the next bench on the row of benches that continued in parallel with the lockers that were placed on opposite sides of the room. Bending, she put his arms up on the first bench too. His hair spilled over one end of that counter like ebony silk. 

She stood for a moment more, just looking at him, and wondering at the things he had just made her feel. Inexplicably, she felt a sense of urgency, as if someone were watching, so she hesitantly took a look around, feeling guilty at violating the privacy of this place meant exclusively for the basketball jocks. Her gaze swept over the lockers, the towels carelessly thrown in one corner, the half-open window, the basketball rack with the balls haphazardly piled inside… shaking her head, she opted to make herself scarce before more trouble descended on her. With a last look at the prone figure on the benches, she hurriedly left, closing but not locking the door, and picking her backpack off the floor on the way out. Walking slowly at first, her steps gradually lengthened into strides, as she seemed to be almost running down the corridor and out the building doors, which thankfully were still miraculously open.

Bursting out into the twilight, she sped down the steps and sprinted all the way across the school lawns. It was only when she was finally outside the school's gates that she stopped, dropped her backpack on the ground, and leaned on the low walls surrounding the school grounds, panting heavily and all out of breath. She stayed that way for a moment, a lone figure hunched over with her palms on her knees. After a few more minutes, she straightened. A myriad emotions danced across her features – confusion, shock, wonder, and… she lifted the fingers of her right hand to her lips, feeling them. She didn't seem to notice the tingle that came from the swollen area, as she stood there lost in thought.

With another shake of her head, she slung her backpack on her shoulders, and proceeded to walk home.

_to be continued…_ Ü

* EIC – Editor in Chief

_Author's Privilege Ramblings:_

Hi everyone!!! ÜÜÜ wave, wave So what do you think? Intrigued? ÜÜÜ For any comments, questions, criticisms, flames… please send to **oddsbodikins@mail.com**. I welcome them. Ü

In any case, thanks for dropping by! Hope you enjoyed yourself! Ü


	2. 1. Revelation

**A Rocky Love Story**, by Oddsbodikins

_Obligatory Disclaimer:___

The characters from Slam Dunk are the creations and property of Inoue Takehiko and related enterprises. I do not own them, and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my (and my readers') own enjoyment in spending time with them.

_Warning: _

Excessive length. But please hear me out, before you leave! Ü I am heartily sorry for inflicting such a time-consuming, lengthy piece of work on you, dear reader. It's just that I am leaving today for a week-long vacation, at a place with no Internet access. I hate leaving things unfinished, but… oh well, I don't have a choice. I hope that this extended offering of mine would tide my readers (if any) over my absence. ÜÜÜ

**Chapter I******

_Revelation___

_~ 3 weeks later ~_

Fuji sat, left elbow propped on her table and chin cupped in her left palm, trying vainly to twirl her red pencil around and in-between the fingers of her other hand. It was a sweltering hot day, the kind of day made for afternoon swimming or ice-cream bingeing at Danny's, and the fact that she along with 24 other active high-schoolers were currently imprisoned against their will in classroom I-5 of Shohoku High School was giving them – and her – a headache. Even the sensei crammed in with them seemed to have lost interest in his own subject, his voice a droning hum of jumbled vectors, coordinates, and motion equations. He was also apparently oblivious to the fact that most of his students were either fighting the sleep fairies, already on their way to dreamland, or totally knocked out. 

Fuji sighed. She glanced across the aisle where her best friend, Haruko Akagi, was among the heroic few still struggling to take down notes. Their other best friend, Matsui Kinimoto, was in the seat behind Fuji's, bent head lolling on the windowsill beside her as she tried to hide her dozing from the sensei. Haruko seemed to have sensed Fuji's look, for she glanced to her left, and meeting Fuji's eyes, she smiled. Fuji rolled her eyes back at her. They shared a friendly grin, before Haruko turned back to her notebook and Fuji to her pencil twirling.

As always, when her mind was free, Fuji's thoughts drifted idly over various things… staring out of the window just beside her seat, her gaze wandered lazily over the empty school grounds below her. Inexplicably her eyes were drawn to a gray building in the distance, and she was reminded of the special assignment her editor had personally given her today. An aspiring journalist, it had always been her dream to be a writer for the school paper. Shohoku High was known throughout the prefecture for its critical school paper, written by and for its students, and Fuji was extremely honoured to have passed the difficult evaluative exam required to be a staffwriter. Smiling fondly to herself, she recalled how she stood, dumbfounded, by the bulletin board where the list of accepted staffers was posted, while around her Haruko and Matsui were hopping up and down, engulfing her in hugs while screaming their lungs out. "Bakas," she thought affectionately.

Being a rookie staffer, she was surprised to be given an investigative assignment this early.

_"M… me?" I squawked, my horrified gaze locked on my editor._

_"Yes, Fuji-chan, you," she replied impatiently as she turned back to the article she was proofreading on the computer._

_"Bb..b..but, sempai, I'm just a… that is… this is my first…"_

_"Yes, yes, I know you're new. I also know this's your first assignment – I'm your editor, remember? But you're perfect for the job. You can do this. Think of it as training for your future career as an investigative journalist."_

_"Uhh… demo… I don't… that is, where do I start?"_

_The news editor swiveled in her chair to face me abruptly. "Fuji-chan, I know this is a shock to you, but really, it's a great honour and great practice to boot. Remember the EIC herself assigned you to do an exposé. Well, here's your chance. You were chosen because you have connections no one else on the staff has."_

_"C..connections?"_

_"Your onii-san's on the basketball team, right? Right. This assignment involves the varsity basketball team, right? Right. There, you've your first contact already!"_

_"Oh, but…"_

_"No more but's. It's settled. You have 3 weeks to get on this thing. Find out what you can about it – remember, our source said it's not what it seems. Dig through whatever dirt there is. And come back to me with what you get. Understood?"_

_I sighed. Further struggle seemed futile.  "Hai."_

Fuji shook her head to clear it. That had been this lunchbreak. Though she was flattered to have been chosen, her hesitation to accept the job was not simply because of her inexperience. "It'll be weird. Uncomfortable. Onii-san and I haven't been the best of sibs lately. And… I can't blame him."

_I got home that day in a daze. Nothing was wrong with me, I was perfectly fine. Just… unsettled. My brother was shooting hoops in our garage._

_"Ne, Fu-chan, where've you been? Here I was feeling guilty for having left you to walk alone 'cause I had practice… so that you could get home early… and here you are, later than I was. Tsk, tsk. You're squandering my emotions."_

_"Squandering?"_

_"Have to be glib to keep up with you." He twirled the basketball on his forefinger._

_"Gomen, nii-chan, I had a late meeting at the school paper, plus the article I was supposed to hand in today…"_

_"That you didn't finish…"_

_"Yeah, I was to do that…"_

_Suddenly he shoved his face in front of mine. "What's wrong?"_

_"H..huh? Nothing's wrong…"_

_"Don't give me that crap. I'm your older brother. What happened?"_

_Instinctively I chewed my lower lip, thinking of a way to fool him. Of all the times to go on the overprotective rampage!…_

_He grabbed my chin. I tried to wrench free, but his eyes were glued to my… oh sh*t…_

_"What happened to your lips? There're purplish spots on them."_

_I wrenched my face out of his grasp. "Nothing! I told you! I just… Haruko-chan had me try this new lip gloss, I must've had an allergic reaction to it or something…"_

_He didn't believe it for a second. His eyes were narrowed into slits, suspiciously watching me. I couldn't look into his face._

_"I… I'm going in now."_

_I could feel my brother's grunt of reluctant assent. His eyes bored into my back. I tried to walk, as calmly as I could, down the path to our front door, and was inside before my usually calm brother could decide to lose his cool._

Thinking of the events of that day led Fuji's thoughts, again… for the nth time… to that… to _his _kiss. "My first kiss," she thought. Even now, thoughts of that kiss, and of the guy who gave it to her, gave her butterflies in her stomach. Fuji fixed her stare on her teacher, a foil to let him think she was listening to him, even though in truth she was lost in her own thoughts.

_The first days after the incident, Fuji was withdrawn, silent more than usual. Haruko and Matsui noticed the change in her, but though they tried to talk to her about it, Fuji evaded their questions. When asked about her bruised lips, she gave the same lie she told her brother._

_Fuji was depressed. She ate very little, laughed less, and seemed jumpy at sudden movements around her. She especially avoided being alone, taking the initiative to seek others' company, which was a radical change from her previous introverted personality. Her brother got fed up one day, when he found her in front of the TV with her favourite show on, yet her eyes remained vacant… when he tried to talk to her she left him to go to her room, where he followed and tried to pry the truth out of her, but… she just couldn't. Yet. She couldn't tell anyone yet. She wasn't ready. Exasperated, her brother stormed out after the confrontation – the worst fight they have ever yet had._

_Try as she might, and even though she wanted to with all her heart, Fuji couldn't bring herself to cry. She wasn't sad. A bit afraid, yes, but that was understandable. She was… confused. She knew she shouldn't have liked what had happened, and she didn't – she felt violated and her trust in the safety of the world was cracked. But, however hard she tried to deny it, there was a niggling sense of… pleasure… whenever she remembered the kiss. She didn't know the guy, and she abhorred the situation where the kiss occurred, yet… when his lips had touched hers, all her jumbled thoughts and feelings melted away, and she was enfolded in a dizzying, dazzling rush of happiness. Giving in to something as shocking as a stranger's kiss was definitely out of her nature, and she knew, intuitively, that she wouldn't have done so if she hadn't wanted it, even just a teeny bit. Somehow, even though everything about it was wrong, that kiss just felt… right._

She still dreamed about it, sometimes. Actually, they happened often during those days immediately after the actual event. She'd wake up in the middle of the night, with the image of his piercing blue eyes branded on her brain, and the skin on her back tingling from the memory of the way his long fingers had caressed the length of her spine. Fuji didn't know whether to be alarmed or not at the obvious way her body, and not just her soul, felt the rightness of being with the dark stranger.

Eventually, she confided in her two best friends. Remembering their reactions made her chuckle – both faces had registered an identical onslaught of emotions like disbelief, outrage, anger, and then concern –-- which earned her a quelling look from the sensei. Deciding to keep her eyes on her notebook instead, Fuji felt the familiar warm, fuzzy feeling she felt then, when she told her friends – their anger and protectiveness in her behalf went a long way to restoring some of her trust in the security of the world. But she didn't tell them the full truth… she couldn't yet share the details to anyone, especially her feelings. Nor would she let them report the incident to any of the authorities – she couldn't bear being exposed to the public scrutiny that would inevitably result, and she didn't think it would do any good anyway. A similar reason explained her refusal to tell her brother anything of the truth at all – her normally easy-going onii-chan would go ballistic, which wouldn't help any. What was done, was done.

The shrill ringing of the bell jolted Fuji back to reality. Looking quickly around her she saw Haruko stuffing her notebook and pencil in her bag, while other classmates chatted to one another as they left the room – class was over. Packing her own things inside her backpack, she turned to find Haruko gently shaking Matsui awake. "Matsui-chan, riiiiissseee annnnddd shiiiiiinnnnnneeee!!!" The image of Matsui yawning like a bear sent the people around them into gales of laughter.

Walking down the corridor, jostling among the throng of students eagerly making their way out of the building and into freedom, the three friends conferred among themselves.

"Ne, girls, what're we going to do?" Haruko asked her friends with wide, puppy eyes.

"I'm hungry, let's eat!" Matsui announced to everyone within earshot.

"But you just woke up! How can you get hungry sleeping?"

"I'm a growing girl! I grow while I sleep!"

"Wouldn't you want to do something first? Y'know, to get you awake?"

"Eating wakes me up!"

"No, it makes you fat!," one of their classmates teased.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?!?!" Matsui looked ready to run the poor girl through with a katana.

"Ne, we know what _you _want to do, Haruko-chan." Fuji winked at her long-haired friend. "Or should I say, we know who you want to _see_."

"Wh…what?!? I'm goin… that is, I want to see my brother!" Haruko was blushing madly amidst the catcalls that came pouring in from all sides. "Hey you all, mind your own businesses, won't you!"

"The fact that your brother just happens to be in the same place with your crush doesn't have anything to do with your decision, right?" Matsui's knowing grin infuriated Haruko further.

"No, no, of course not! You're all hallucinating! Hentais!!!"

By this time they had reached the school lawns. The three girls stopped, while their classmates waved goodbyes and innuendoes at them as they left.

"I don't know. I have to get started on that reaction paper due tomorrow…" Fuji started saying.

"Oh come on, Fuji-chaaann! That's not due 'til tomorrow! You have all of tonight!" Haruko wheedled. "Besides," she paused as an idea struck her, "you have to do research on that special assignment for the paper, right? Well, why don't we go to the gym then? You bet the basketball team's there! You can talk to my onii-chan… or yours!"

"While conveniently giving your best friend a chance to ogle her crush…" Matsui added blandly, before leering suggestively at Haruko.

"Oh come on! That's… got nothing to do with it," Haruko stammered. The other two girls noticed her violently pink cheeks and sniffed disbelievingly.

"Look, let's be serious here. Fuji-chan needs to find out more about the fight that happened a week ago at the gym, right? And, she needs to talk to her brother…" Haruko held her hand up for silence when Fuji stirred to protest. "So, let's go to the gym so we can fix both at one go! I'm sure your brother couldn't ignore you in front of other people." 

"Too bad Rukawa-kun ignores most people…"

"Oh Matsui-chan, please do be quiet for a moment..."

Fuji sighed. When Haruko got like this, it was next to impossible to contradict her. It was during these times that she most resembled her brother, the fearsome Captain Takenori of the basketball team, by sheer bullheadedness. Haruko had been more insistent lately about visiting the basketball team during their practices, since the InterHigh eliminations were starting on the coming weekend. She was their most avid non-team member supporter.

"Alright. Let's go."

The three friends strolled to the basketball gym, teasing one another occasionally. As they drew nearer the squeaks of rubber soles against a wooden floor increased steadily with the dull thudding of numerous basketballs against the same surface.

"Konichi-wa, onii-chan!!!" Haruko hollered as soon as they were inside the enormous building. A giant of a man turned at the sound of her voice, and getting up from his stretching exercises moved toward the doorway where the three girls stood.

"Haruko! Here to watch the practices again?" the giant greeted. He smiled at the two girls beside his sister. "Konichi-wa, Fuji-san, Matsui-san."

"Just for a bit, nii-chan. Anou, have you seen Fuji-chan's brother anywhere?"

"Hmm, not yet. He must still be in the locker room," Takenori answered. As he spoke, a beautiful brunette in sporty attire approached, with two players trailing behind her.

"Konichi-wa, Ayako-sempai!" All three girlfriends chorused.

"Hello, you three!" Ayako, the team manageress, beamed. "Are you here to support our team for the coming InterHigh?"

"Of course!" Haruko nodded her head vigorously. Fuji and Matsui caught each other's eyes, and giggled.

"Ne, Haruko, I have some things from my locker that need to be laundered. Would you please get them for me?" Takenori turned to his sister's friends. "Anou, I have to go now. Ayako will take care of you. Come on, Haruko, I'll give you my locker key."

"Onii-chan, you are impossible!" Haruko rolled her eyes. "Wait for me, girls, ne?" she called out to her friends, before following her brother.

The group left behind were laughing at the siblings, when Ayako suddenly thought of something. "Oh yes, you haven't met two of our newest members yet, haven't you?" she asked the other two girls, gesturing to the area behind them. "I know Haruko already has."

Belatedly realizing that two guys had been standing behind them, and had been privy to the whole conversation, Fuji and Matsui turned.

The shorter one, who stood behind Matsui, had curly hair cropped short at the top, but with the sides of his head shaven. His ear stud gleamed as he bowed and held a hand out to Matsui, introducing himself. "Konichi-wa, I'm Ryota Miyagi."

The taller guy, with close-cropped spiky blue-black hair, meanwhile bowed and stuck his hand out to shake Fuji's. Fuji gaped in open-mouthed shock at the small scar on his chin, as he grinned engagingly into her eyes. "Hey there. I'm Hisashi Mitsui."

_to be continued…_ Ü

* EIC – Editor in Chief

_Author's Privilege Ramblings:_

Waah!!! 2, 680 words!!! pant, pant, wheeze, gasp That was one hell of a day! Yup, I wrote this chapter in a day!!! Well, as I said in my intro, I wanted to leave something for my readers to last them the whole week I would be away. (Would you miss mēēēh? Even just a teensie-weensie bit? Eheheheh ÜÜÜ)

So how was it? I know it's too long, but besides that? Please let me know. This chapter's pretty much unedited. I value what you guys think! Just review here or drop me a line at **oddsbodikins@mail.com**. 

To shi-chan, Love-that-Fox, and Nellie, thank you so much for reviewing the prologue! ÜÜÜ

To everyone who has reached this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did writing this. ÜÜÜ

To the great Yoko Kanno-sama (if, by any miraculous chance, she is reading this), a million thank you's for creating the Escaflowne music!!! The "Escaflowne: Lovers' Only" OST has been my constant companion as I wrote this chapter. It's my favourite "thinking cd". ÜÜÜ Highly recommended! ÜÜÜ

'Til the next! Ja! ÜÜÜ


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